Monday, September 23, 2013

hooray, autumn's here! i think fall might be my most favorite season. it's funny because i have my east coast reasons and my west coast reasons...my number one east coast reason being the grape harvest season and the delicious smell of ripened grapes in the air. well, that's what it was like when i was growing up anyhow. i also very much like the brisk autumn temperatures and the beautiful fall colors there, which we don't exactly get in Southern California. it's going to be in the high 80's here today, so even though it's officially fall, there's not a brisk autumn temperature in sight! my west coast reason is that soon the weather here will change and cool off, but the nice thing is that it never gets too cold, and i can appreciate not having to completely bundle up two small kids every single time we walk out the door.

but i also love this time of year because it means the holidays will be here soon. Mr. Bagubian will turn 3 in October (!!!), which means a trip to Disneyland; then he'll "go to Halloween" which he cannot wait to do. November is full of birthdays (including mine :), our fall wedding anniversary, and Thanksgiving. this year my birthday and Thanksgiving will be extra special since my parents will be visiting that week. and December, of course, brings all of the holly jolly Christmas festivities. it's all so exciting!

my project today, i think, is very fitting for the first full day of fall, given the warm colors in it. my cousin asked me to make something for her using this quote and after some thought (okay,a lot of thought) and a few scrapped ideas, this is what i came up with...

i used a photo overlay from Crate's Close Knit, and the black and white canvas frame is from Flea Market by Maggie Holmes. she was going for a vintage look, yet wanted me to stay somewhat simple with it. i used the bird because they're graceful creatures (and because i like stuff with birds on them--i made sure she does, too!). the buttons are vintage and belonged to our grandmother. i have a couple of jars full of her old buttons and most of them are plain. There are a few that are unique and lovely like this black faceted one and the peach floral one. i tend to not want to use them on projects because i'd rather not part with them but i knew Erin would appreciate these and it's nice that they'll be on display in her home.

with the gold, orange, and yellow, this is very fall-ish to me and i'm going to miss looking at it now that it's in the mail, en route to her on the east coast. but there's a whole lotta stuff happening this week, and most of it's of the Christmas variety, not autumn. i'm getting ready for a craft show this Saturday and i've been making Christmas goodies for it like mad! don't worry, i'll be sure to show you all of them in the coming days and weeks. happy fall!

Friday, September 13, 2013

with school officially underway, we had a week of fun back-to-school projects over on the Crate blog this week. the DT came up with some awesome layouts, beautiful home decor, and creative organizational/DIY projects. a couple of us even whipped up some gifts for teachers.

when i think about teachers, the first person that comes to mind is my most favorite teacher--my mother! she's now a retired elementary school teacher but when she was working, i always remember that she kept a lot of lists. i'm sure it's no easy task for a teacher to stay organized so i made up a few simple notebooks to help them out.

i mainly used the DIY Shop collection for my notebooks, with odds and ends from Random, Story Teller, and Party Day. DIY Shop has so many academically inspired coordinates that it will work for any school subject you need--English, Geography, Math, Science, etc. if you check out the Crate blog, you'll also see a lot of the *brand new*Flea Market by Maggie Holmes used this week. i know you don't want to miss that!

this notebook style is very basic; simply trim your paper around a small pad, fold, and glue. so simple. i love keeping notes on index cards and have become a little obsessed with them, actually. {i went out today and bought a whole assortment of different-sized index-like cards. can't wait to make all kinds of things with them!}

you can buy index card pads, but i didn't have any so i made my own--also super-simple to do. gather a stack of cards and brush basic glue across the top edges of the card. i used Martha Stewart decoupage glue with binder clips to hold all of the cards together until the glue was dry. {tip: give it about 30 minutes to dry, just to be safe, and a little goes a long way.} when it's all done, you have yourself a little notebook!

and if you're going to give a gift, i say, wrap it up nice!

this one is my favorite, likely due to the subject matter. English/reading/writing (especially creative) were always my strongest subjects when i was in school. that's probably because both of my parents LOVE to read. and i have a wild imagination (thank you, anxiety) so i'm pretty good at coming up with elaborate plots and stories. what if...

this is a quote from William Wordsworth. it's so poetic. i don't write creatively much anymore, but i still love the idea of writing; i love my vintage typewriter (which belonged to my late grandmother); i love my thesaurus (which was a gift from my other late grandmother).

instead of index cards, i used library cards for this notebook; perfectly fitting.

vintage maps and globes in such lovely colors!

and a quote from Dr. Seuss, geographically speaking!

the wrap for these notebooks is simple: a glassine envelope, black twine, a washi covered mini clothespin, and a small assortment of matching tags. it's simple, but it's a nice extra touch.

math...my worst subject! my worst subject, yet i like this notebook with that bold and bright yellow tag on it!

just for fun, i also turned some DIY Shop wood clothespins into magnets. these were so easy to do--honestly, they took about 5 minutes.

you know i love my clothespins and these are no exception. using the days of the week and time of day are a fun and stylish way to stay on top of things--whether they're a gift for your child's teacher or they're to help YOU stay organized...soccer, PTA, play dates...the school year brings on a hectic schedule for a lot of families so here's an easy way to make sure everyone knows what's going on and when it's happening.

all i did to make these was add a strip of magnetic tape to the backs of the clips. trust me when i tell you that anyone can do this!

how about giving them to your kids for their lockers? parents and teachers aren't the only ones who need to be organized...

i had a long, wonderful chat with a new friend the other night. among other things, she reminded me to "live in the present." with that in mind, i invite you to take the message in this picture to heart...today; make it count!

and one more thing before i leave...i just want to thank you all for reading this blog. i know i don't post as regularly as i'd like to, but i do appreciate each and every one of you who takes the time to stop by. i'm so happy to have our craftiness in common with you!

Friday, September 6, 2013

hey there, friends! today i'm excited to share a mini album with you. we had a special assignment this week over at the CP blog and were asked to share one last project using The Pier. along with our creation, we were also to tell about a favorite memory from this summer. Nemy turned 6 months yesterday (September 5th) and she is still exclusively nursing. by that i mean, no formula, not even breast milk in a bottle. just me. that's kind of a long story but what it also means is that i'm tethered to her 24/7. most of the time that's not a big deal but we mothers--heck, all parents--need a break now and then, right? in 6 months i've been out of the house without her less than a handful of times--and once was to go to the dentist so should that even count?! on August 11th, Hoss and i celebrated our anniversary and got to go out to dinner ALONE! no toddler, no baby, no children's menu, high chair, or anything else "kid-friendly"--it was just the two of us at an adult restaurant. and it was wonderful!

so i used The Pier and my favorite summer memory to make a mini album depicting our weddings. no, that's not a typo--i said weddings--with an 's'. Hoss and i have gotten married twice. the first time was in November of 2006, on a beach in Corona del Mar, CA. it was a spur of the moment decision, there were 6 people there (including us), and our officiant was also the photographer! (he's a mutual good friend who did us a great big favor, including driving 6 hours from Mammoth Lakes down to SoCal, and surprising me by bringing my good friend along on the trip with him.)

i made the album using bags...mostly different sized glassine, plus one kraft, for the cover. i started by snipping off the closed ends to create more pockets, then arranged them on top of each other. i folded the bundle in half and stitched up the middle. filling the album took careful thought and planning, and once everything was in place, it was pretty thick and bulky. a length of cream seam binding tied in a bow keeps the album closed, but as you can see from the photo, it's still pretty fat.

the first half of the album is about our first wedding. because CP wanted to focus on The Pier, i used as many TP products as i could. a lot of frames, tags, and chipboard made it into this project. and because we were married on the beach, The Pier was absolutely perfect for this album with all of its beach-themed coordinates.

the gold glitter letters are Maggie Holmes and the gold foil alpha stickers are American Crafts.Crystal Cove...such a beautiful place! a couple days before the wedding, Hoss and i went out looking for a place for our ceremony and found this beach. we both knew right away that this was IT.

on the big day, we parked the car, then went out walking and happened to stumble upon a big round rock that the 3 of us (our officiant, Hoss, and i) could stand on. that part actually was just a fluke as we hadn't seen it when we went scouting for locations. the other great thing was that on a Monday in November--even if the weather is perfectly sunny and warm like it was that day--there aren't many people at the beach. we had a very private wedding on a very public beach.

can't have a wedding without something blue, right? the sky and the water...

to have & to hold. (and a little pocket of kraft confetti hearts.)

you - me and another tiny envelope--of sequins this time.

i really wanted to use the orange tile letters from The Pier because the colors from the 2nd wedding were orange and turquoise. i put them in small glassine envelopes and then adhered/stitched them together to create a mini flip-blook.

the second half of the mini is about our second wedding. where the first one was small and took very little planning, the second one was larger and much more involved. we went from coast to coast, too, throwing bash #2 in my hometown in New York. it was actually this wedding that was the beginning of my paper craze. i discovered Paper Source, for one, my love of obsession with color, and that i did indeed have a few crafty bones in my body (i had previously thought that i did not). i made all of the wedding invitations, RSVP cards, favors, place cards, and ceremony programs. we got to NY about a week before the wedding and by the big day, i was unbelievably stressed out! needless to say, there are no plans for a third wedding on the horizon!

cringe...a mistake! instead of writing August 11, 2007, i wrote 2006 and just had to live with it. luckily, the card and frame live tucked inside a glassine pocket :)

instead of the ocean, we were married at Garrett Chapel on Keuka Lake. it is a gorgeous little chapel, all made of stone and built on a wooded hill overlooking the lake. it's incredibly peaceful and was one of the first places i took Hoss the first time he came out with me to visit my family in NY.

"a fine blend" is a reference to ourselves as a pair and the music we chose to put on our cd wedding favor. the two of us, who really had not much else in common when we met, connected over our love of music. i don't really know how to describe our tastes, but they are mostly vastly different! we both agree 100% that neither of us is "Top 40" and we also agree that we both like a lot of different sounds. but he likes mainly punk along with some hard and loud driving sounds while i like mainly Britpop and melodic artists. yet somehow, we found ourselves bonding over obscure 80's bands and songs. from there, our relationship grew and so did our musical tastes as we introduced new sounds to each other.

enough said, i think. i hope you enjoyed my trip down memory lane. this was a fun look back for me and i'll definitely be making more minis in the future. one with the kids next time, for sure. now let's just hope we don't have to wait until November for another date night!